


Three Parts Brave

by thelimitsofthe_sea



Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types, Battle Royale - Takami Koushun
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 06:25:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3840448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelimitsofthe_sea/pseuds/thelimitsofthe_sea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one smile he’d never wanted to see was the last one he ever got.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Parts Brave

Shinji smiled with his eyes-  his brows would go up,  eyes, suddenly brighter, widening, more often than not he’d roll them,  whether exasperated with whatever the stupid pun was or that he’d laughed at it, Shuya never knew.  If anything, his lips quirked slightly, but it took a real good one to earn that.  He had a lot of smiles- charming for the teachers, cool and suave for love interests, predatory on the court. Shuya liked all of them, but this one was his favourite- easy, genuine, a flash of intimacy tucked into a moment. 

As Shuya walked out of the class, heart thumping in his chest, brain dizzy with incomprehension and horror, he caught Shinji at the edge of his vision.  His arms were crossed, gaze straight – coolly defiant even in his compliance. There it was,  a twitch at the corner of his mouth, meant just for him. He caught it, held it, and he felt his breath come easier. Shinji had it together, he was always one step ahead of the ball. It was reassurance, comfort, shared grief, and a promise, all sworn in less than half a second

It didn’t dawn on him till much later that it was also goodbye.

The one smile he’d never wanted to see was the last one he ever got.

****

Even after Shinji realized that it would be impossible to find Shuya on the island, he kept playing it out in his mind. He could see how it would go – Shuya’s face would light up, he’d run towards him, it would be a pure distilled moment of joy in the middle of chaos. Somehow Hiroki would be there too,  and the three of them would be together again, ready to take on the government and win, drunk on hope, hyped on energy. It was the perfect equilibrium- Shuya with his idealism, Hiroki with his level-headed temperance, and Shinji with his relentless logic, occasionally punctuated by brilliance.

He was beyond thankful to have Yutaka by his side, someone he loved to fight for and protect. He needed a cause, a purpose- always the net in mind, already planning out the next goal. Yutaka was earnest and sincere to a fault, something about him softened Shinji’s edges, made it so he could hone their plans without cutting himself open on his own knife. Bit by bit he gave up his fantasies of reunion, focused on this new dyad, every time Yutaka grinned at him in admiration like a shot of courage to the bloodstream.

There was the here and the now, and he and Yutaka needed each other, and more important than anything was being strong for him.

Without realizing it, he let Shuya go.

****

 Shuya had found unexpected comfort in Noriko and Shogo, a few intense hours together binding them together far tighter  than years of lighthearted friendship ever could. He had always been a team player, he liked belonging to a unit, a family -  you and yours, something to defend, that peaceful assurance of knowing someone always has your back. But even so, the team was not complete without a captain.

He held onto the thought of Shinji fiercely, needed it to survive moment to moment just like he needed air. He repeated his name in his mind like a mantra, the two syllables meaning safety, a sense of normalcy in the madness his life had become.  He would take this blood-drenched, disordered world, dust it off, and turn it right side round again.

He insisted to the others that they’d find him, that everything would make sense once they did. Shogo said nothing, he had never been one to support desperate dreaming. Noriko would nod, smile tight, eyes sad. He brushed away their disbelief, their pity. Shinji was the northern star, a guiding light, a compass to always swear by.

He didn’t just hang the moon, he was light years beyond it.

****

Shinji was aware of the blood draining out of him, he felt light headed, close to passing out, the brilliant flames and the black sky swimming into each other till he wasn’t sure what was which. It didn’t matter. He was also aware that has was several seconds away from death. A handful of scattered thoughts flashed through his frayed mind in that last suspended moment . He seethed inwardly at  Kazuo, the bastard, the unseen hitch in his perfect plan. His heart ached for his sister, who would have to grow up so fast now, no one there to show her the steps. He could still feel Yutaka’s body slumped in his arms,  just after the walls had come down between them and he’d felt love and trust like he never had before . All stolen in an instant. He saw his uncle, earring flashing, eyes dangerous, body made of a thousand deadly secrets.

He did not think of Shuya.

****

Shuya and Shinji were fairly evenly matched when it came to the court, but when thing Shinji had always been better at was recognizing when something was a lost cause, and quickly coming up with a new and improved strategy. Shuya was too stubborn, he’d see the play through to the very end, even when it was obviously headed for failure. Something in him wouldn’t let him give it up until he’d given it his all.

He believed he would find Shinji until the last possible moment, lying in a sudden moment of peaceful calm in the bedroom in the lighthouse, the serenity belying that the world had ended. Yukie broke it to him gently, eyes filled with concern, voice measured but broken, a sort of resigned heartbreak.

The Third Man had played his last.

Shuya really had thought he would never die, that it was impossible for someone like  Shinji to do something so ordinary as dying.

He remembered later that stars burn out, the brightest of them going the fastest.

He also remembered the light of a star reached the Earth hundreds of years after it dies,  a thousand miles of space delaying the final darkness.

He had a feeling this light would last for a long time.

 


End file.
